


Heliacal Rising

by sambethe



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 15:18:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1134198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sambethe/pseuds/sambethe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>That's exactly how I'd describe you – irresolute, fickle, and decidedly inconsistent.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heliacal Rising

**Author's Note:**

  * For [such_heights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/such_heights/gifts).



Remus sat on the back step of Grimmauld Place, cigarette dangling from his limp fingertips. It had been a good, if busy, day. It was nice to hear laughter in a house that was usually too full of dark shadows, even darker news, and all manner of things lurking. Between the laughter and Sirius's mad compulsion to decorate every last inch of the place, the house felt almost festive.

'I thought you had given those up?'

Startled, he turned his head and was greeted by Sirius's still too thin form leaning against the door jamb, a small smile playing at the edges of his mouth.

'You know me – ever unable to make up my mind about these things,' Remus said lightly.

'Oh, yes,' Sirius drawled, 'that's exactly how I'd describe you – irresolute, fickle, and decidedly inconsistent.'

With the last Sirius dropped himself on the step next to Remus, swiped the cigarette from his hand, and took a drag.

Remus nudged him with his elbow. 'You know, for a man with so few allies these days, you think you'd be kinder to those you have left.'

'You wound me, mate,' Sirius replied, pantomiming a stab to his chest. 'Bringing down my cheery mood with your threats of abandonment, I have half a mind to leave you out here with nothing but your filthy cigarettes for company.'

Remus grinned as he watched Sirius make to get up. He grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down onto the step. They sat silence while Sirius finished off the remains of Remus's cigarette.

'Do you think Harry will like his gift?' Sirius asked after casting a quick Evanesco on the cigarette's end.

'You've read his letters about his Defence group. It's perfect, Sirius.'

Sirius looked unconvinced.

Remus smiled. 'You are forgetting the most important part -'

'What's that?'

'It's from you.'

Sirius smiled and shook his head slightly, as if he still couldn't believe his luck with Harry.

They sat in companionable silence for awhile before Sirius eventually interrupted the quiet by rustling in Remus's coat pocket. 

'What are you doing?' Remus asked, bewildered.

Sirius grinned and with a flourish produced the rumpled cigarette pack. He fished two out and after lighting them both and handed the second to Remus.

Taking his first drag, Remus watched as Sirius unfolded his legs and stood up. Sirius then reached down and grabbed Remus's arm.

'Up!' he commanded.

'Where are we going?'

'Just out into the yard.' Correctly assessing Remus's expression, he quickly added, 'don't worry, I'm not planning an escape from my cage.'

Not letting go of Remus's arm, Sirius pulled him to the centre of the garden. At his gesture, Remus sat down on the cold grass and stretched his legs out before him. Sirius sat himself between Remus's legs and shimmied himself backward to lean his head on Remus's shoulder.

They finished their cigarettes while Remus watched Sirius stare at the sky above him. It took all his concentration to remember to breathe with Sirius this close, his leg brushing Remus's own. It was all he could do to not tilt his head and run his lips along the shell of Sirius's ear.

'What are you looking at?' Remus asked in an attempt to distract himself from his thoughts.

Sirius pushed himself back further into Remus. 'Just the stars.'

Remus leaned his head back and stared at orange-tinted sky above him. 'What stars, Padfoot? We're in London.'

Sirius, ignoring his remark, asked, 'do you remember Astronomy class?'

'Vaguely,' he replied, confusion evident in his voice.

'Do you remember that my star disappears from view for a couple months each year?'

Remus nodded, trying to focus on Sirius's words. Instead, he found himself only able to concentrate on the fact that Sirius was running his fingers lightly along the outside of Remus's leg.

'In Egypt, it is gone for 70 days; its reappearance in the early morning sky marked the start of each new year during the Middle Kingdom.'

Remus made a vague humming sound and tentatively lifted one hand and ran it along Sirius's shoulder.

'Mmm, that's nice, Moony,' said Sirius. 

Remus turned the slight brushes of his fingertips into more of a massage. He listened as Sirius's breath hitched and then deepened; it was a few minutes before he continued his story.

'Some associated the star with the benu, their bird of creation. According to myth, the sun only dawned for the first time upon the first flight of this bird. At the beginning of each year, Sirius, therefore, stands as a reminder of this first rising.'

Remus, emboldened by the fact that Sirius was now running his whole hand along Remus's thigh, moved his own hand down Sirius's arm and snaked his fingers underneath the cuff of Sirius's sweater, allowing them to play along the inside of his wrist. He was rewarded with a small moan from Sirius.

'Herodotus, who was never the most reliable bloke I admit, equated this bird with the Greek legend of the phoenix and its cycle of periodic renewal,' Sirius added, his voice shaking slightly.

Remus hummed again, which turned into a soft moan as Sirius's fingers moved along the inside of his thigh.

'Is this okay?' Sirius asked quietly. 

Remus responded by wrapping his hand around Sirius's arm and giving it a squeeze. He leaned in and whispered, 'more than,' into his ear. Sirius then tilted his head and ran his jaw along Remus's own.

'What prompted this story telling session?' Remus asked.

Sirius shook his head. 'Don't know. Since finding out my Animagus form years ago I've always associated myself, at least a little bit, with the dog part of the Sirius myth. How could I not? It was almost laughable. But now, being back, escaping from Azkaban, I feel a bit more like the bird part, as if, given time, I could start anew.'

Remus, sitting up a bit, wrapped his arms around Sirius's waist. Sirius gave a small sigh in response.

'Do you think everyone's asleep?' Sirius asked.

Remus looked over toward the house. 'Looks like the lights are all out.' He then hesitated before asking, 'inside then?'

Sirius stood up slowly, stretching out his arms and legs as he went. He reached down, grabbed both of Remus's hands, and pulled him up toward him. They stood nose to nose for a moment too long before Sirius turned away.

Remus followed him into the house and up the main stairs, keenly aware that Sirius still had his fingers entwined in Remus's left ones.

When they reached the door to Sirius's bedroom he let go of Remus's hand and turned toward him. He cleared his throat and, not meeting Remus's eyes, asked, 'do you want to come in?'

Remus reached out and brought one hand up to Sirius's chin to tilt it upward. He smiled and leaned in, capturing Sirius's lips with his own.

Sirius pulled Remus tightly against him and ran his tongue against Remus's lips. 

They somehow ended up on Sirius's bed, half their clothes discarded along the way. Sirius was kissing a trail down Remus's chest when Remus suddenly rolled them both so that he was staring down at Sirius's pleasantly shocked face.

'Are you sure about this, Padfoot?'

Remus watched as Sirius bit down on his lower lip and a brief flicker of hesitation passed across his face. The expression quickly melted into a slow, sly grin. 

'That's a bit of an unfair question to ask a bloke when you are sitting on top of him half naked, don't you think?' Sirius said. 

Remus never got a chance to respond as Sirius followed up his question by grinding his hips into Remus's own.

He groaned and Sirius used the opportunity to pull Remus toward him with one hand, sliding his tongue into Remus's mouth. They traded sloppy kisses while Sirius struggled to open Remus's trousers with his free hand. When Sirius finally succeeded and slipped his hand inside, Remus lost all ability to think to a haze of sensation and touch.

*

Sometime after, Remus laid awake, his arm flung over Sirius and their legs tangled together. He listened as Sirius snored lightly.

He still wasn't entirely sure how they ended up here but he wouldn't deny that it was something that he had wanted for awhile now. However, if he had learned anything in his short years it was to not question the good things when they came along, as he might forget to simply enjoy them.

Pulling Sirius's hair back behind his ear, he ran his hand along his jaw and down his neck. He couldn't seem to shake his thoughts of Sirius's words earlier that night. Planting a kiss behind Sirius's ear, he hoped for both their sakes that his namesake might prove true to form.


End file.
